Robin van Persie to Manchester United?

For whatever reason, the Robin van Persie saga continues to drag on as the new season fast approaches.

Van Perise, who previously stated via a post on his website that he will not re-sign with Arsenal, has been heavily linked to Manchester United, Manchester City, and Juventus.

However, reports today from England suggest that the Dutch striker is close to signing with the Red Devils after Sir Alex Ferguson stayed behind while his team left for Norway in order to finalize a £20 million transfer.

Manchester City boss, Roberto Mancini, admitted defeat yesterday in his pursuit of the Arsenal forward: “‘Van Persie? No, I don’t think he will come here.”

Van Persie won both Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association player of the year prizes in recognition of his 36-goal contribution for Arsenal in the 2011/12 season.

Earlier reports from England also suggest that United are on the verge of signing Olympian, Lucas Moura, 19, from Sao Paulo for a cool £30 million.

It’s difficult to imagine they’d be able to spend £50 million on two players without dropping a few big names from their current roster.

Reports have indicated that Portuguese winger, Nani, could possibly be on the move to Juventus in order for United to recoup some cash.

Furthermore, the rumour mill has suggested that Bulgarian striker, Dimitar Berbatov, might leave for mega-rich PSG, as well, the French club is also trying to toss a wrench into United plans by hijacking the signing of Lucas Moura.

Crazy stuff, right? It will be nice to get some resolution on these fronts.

Thus far – United have only signed Nick Powell and Shinji Kagawa in the summer transfer window.

Mike MacDonald is a news editor and writer at Postmedia. His writing also appears weekly in The Onion. When not working, Michael can be found playing crunchy grooves on his ukulele in his Toronto home... read more.View author's profile